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Cassette(Cassette)

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Overview

Employing a familiar hip-hop metaphor -- comparing his lyrical dart and beat stew to peddling a musical substance as intoxicating as dope -- Wu-Tang Clan's Inspectah Deck has finally emerged from Shaolin with the goods on his long-awaited solo debut, UNCONTROLLED SUBSTANCE. During his Clan tenure, Deck has lurked in the shadows of Method Man's goofball, ladies man persona, Ol' Dirt's maniacal rants and outlaw run-ins, Ghostface and Raekwon's dizzying, hustler rhyme schemes, and the beat chemistry and Five Percent-informed word styling of RZA. Nevertheless, his battle rhymes and hyper-vivid tales of wild women, crooked cops, and bullet casings have made him an underground favorite. On the disc's best cut (one of only two RZA-produced gems), "Movas & Shakers," Deck laces lines of social perseverance between celebratory horns and a neck-snapping bassline. The drums crash and tumble like dice, complementing the boastful, pseudo-scientific flows of "9th Chamber" which features several Wu- protégés. And when Deck skates over the pimped-out, Pete Rock-produced "Trouble Man," his bluesy delivery addresses the pull of street life with his aspirations to transcend it. Though Deck's public persona may not eclipse others in his clan, his solo effort punctuates his venerated place among the Wu.

Editorial Reviews

While Deck has always been overshadowed by the more personable bees in his Wu-Tang hive, there is no disputing his messiah-like flow and delivery pure as artesian water. Wu-Tang's diehard fans have always demanded more and Deck gives them just that, as he routinely leaves microphones grotesquely disfigured on his stellar debut. Besides the usual assortment of high-powered street jams usually found on Wu-Tang endeavors, what separates Deck from the next bodega philosopher lays in his disposition, as he also employs his verbal gifts as a tool of enlightenment. He lays out a path to righteousness with "Elevation" and "Show and Prove," while the warm piano chords of "Longevity" details his plans for global domination. Although the man behind Wu's music, RZA, only furnishes two tracks, Deck shows versatility behind the boards as well, handling a majority of the production chores. There is truly no anti-venom on record capable of diluting the Inspecktah's fatal sting once inflicted.